Mt. Pleasant woman sentenced for stealing

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a 54-year-old Mt. Pleasant woman to five years in prison for stealing nearly a half million dollars from a relative.

U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington also ordered Kelli Rae Smith to two years of supervised release for a conviction of theft of personal property.

Smith, who was convicted after a plea Sept. 20, was appointed by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Court in 2006 to be her brother-in-law’s guardian, and evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings established that she abused that position of trust by stealing more than $400,000 from him between March 2007 and July 2010, according to court records.

The crimes occurred on the Isabella Reservation.

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Crimes involving Native Americans in Indian Country are tried in federal court.

To avoid being caught, Smith submitted forged bank documents to tribal court and, after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Bay City, submitted forged documents to the federal court to make it appear that the amount of money stolen was less in an attempt to get a shorter sentence, according to court records.

Instead, Smith earned a higher guideline range for attempted obstruction of justice, according to court records.

Investigated by special agents of the FBI and Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police, the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy Kranz.

(Susan Field can be reached at 989-779-6075, sfield@michigannewspapers.com or follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/susan.k.field.)